Can the Dropbox IPO revive the technology sector?

By Kate Gibson

Updated on: March 23, 2018 / 11:47 AM
/ MoneyWatch

Growing tech addiction

Dropbox's market debut could bring a much-needed ray of light to the technology sector. Shares of the cloud-storage company began trading under the ticker symbol DBX (DBX) on Friday, jumping 47 percent in early trading.

About 36 million shares of Dropbox on Thursday sold for $21 a piece, above the $18-to-$20 range foreseen by its investment bankers and reportedly giving it a market value of about $8.2 billion to $9.2 billion. Its stock traded at $30.94 at noon on Friday, an increase of nearly $10 or 46 percent.

Dropbox's foray into the public market comes at a turbulent time on Wall Street and especially for tech stocks, after Facebook's data scandal wiped nearly $60 billion off the company's market cap. On Thursday, benchmark indexes plummeted more than 2 percent on worries about a potential trade war between the U.S. and China.

Founded in 2007 by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, the San Francisco startup offers a subscription service that allows for online filing sharing and collaboration.

Dropbox has not yet tallied an annual profit, but it did cut losses to $112 million in 2017 from $326 million the year before, while notching 30 percent-plus sales growth, according to the New York Times. The company up until this week has been supported by private investors including Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners.

The company's IPO could open the door for other so-called unicorns -- start-ups valued at more than a billion dollars. Demand for its shares is an indication that investors aren't overly worried about rival providers of clod-storage services, including Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN).